It Hurts Me Too
by jenwin23
Summary: Lilly lived, circumstances changed. Set somewhere in the Spring of Veronica's sophomore year of high school. Lilly, Duncan, mentions of LoVe. Started as a one parter, but has grown...We'll see how much more of this is in me.
1. Chapter 1

"Look Duncan, I get it, Veronica's great, but you have to get over it."

Duncan looks up from his homework, seeing his sister enter his room without knocking. His face is completely blank. Almost as if he hadn't heard her, but she knows better and glares at him one hand on her hip, her face a pure expression of exasperated impatience.

He frowns and looks down, "I am."

She tosses her hair over her shoulder and comes further into his room dropping gracefully onto his perfectly made bed. "No you're not, and everyone knows it." She tilts her head, a slightly mean smile on her face as she tells him what he should already know. "That's why no one else is asking her out."

Duncan sighs and closes his book, carefully marking the page for once Lilly left him in peace again.

She lies down on his bed, testing it out, bouncing a bit on the expensive mattress. "Well that and the other thing."

Duncan frowns, still not wanting to have this conversation, but knowing Lilly won't leave until she's made her point. He'd been avoiding this exact thing for weeks now. "What? What other thing?"

Lilly sits up in one smooth move, coming over to Duncan and flicking his forehead. "Focus Donut. You can be selfish about anything else in your life, but not Veronica. She deserves better."

Duncan pushes her away, annoyed that she had flicked him, he had specifically asked that she not do it anymore. Which was a mistake, now that she knew it truly bothered him she did it whenever she was angry at him. Or taking out her temper with someone else on him.

"I'm not doing anything Lilly." He frowns, finally tuning in to the conversation. "Someone wants to ask Veronica out? Someone that we know?" He sounds both confused and unhappy with the thought.

Lilly widens her eyes in ire and then rolls them walking to his closet and opening the doors. "God. And people say I'm selfish and self involved." She begins going through his clothes quickly, pulling out a few shirts she decides are not acceptable. "Catch a clue Donut. Logan. Your bestie."

"What?"

Lilly reemerges from his closet, holding a shirt she knew Veronica had given him. She adds it to the pile. "OK, I'm going to talk slowly." Duncan stands up to retrieve the shirt from the pile, but she stands on it, keeping it on the floor. Duncan stares up at her then straightens up.

"I have to study Lilly, can we talk later?"

She ignores his request, well used to getting her way. He always gave her want she wanted, whether it was because he wanted her to be happy or just didn't care about anything enough to stand in her way. She intended to have her way again.

"Try to keep up. Logan likes Veronica. Veronica likes Logan."

The words hit Duncan hard, but Lilly imagines that she can see them bounce off his head.

"No, no way. She would never like someone like him."

Lilly frowns again, Duncan was being difficult. She issues a predatory smile, full of importance and secrets. "Wow. And I thought you two were friends."

His reply is automatic. "We are."

She scoffs, "Right. Well, whatever."

She loses the effervesce that is her shield from the world, the thing the prevents most people from seeing the real her. Lilly could be serious, and when it came to her best friend she was usually serious. Serious about getting Veronica to loosen up or making sure Veronica was happy.

"Veronica is our sister, you can't date her and you're making her miserable. She's my best friend and even if you don't care about Logan or Veronica being happy, I do."

Duncan finally gets it and sits back down in his desk chair, sinking down slowly. "You're OK with them being together?"

Lilly grins, issuing a truly happy smile and laugh. "Are you kidding? I think it's fantastic. The scandal of the decade. And imagine if people knew the real truth, that she's our sister." Lilly looks like that is a secret she can't wait to tell.

Duncan's face is filled with dread, then slowly fades to the neutral monotony that was his normal. "We don't know that Lil."

"You don't, but I do. Seems like I got all the balls in the family, except for Veronica of course. She's not the delicate pink princess you think she is Duncan."

Duncan turns back around in his chair opening his book again, determined to ignore Lilly until she left. She'd make him pay for it later, but he just couldn't have this conversation. Not now, not ever.

Lilly skips over to him and sweeps her hand across his desk throwing all the items onto the floor, including his book, laptop, light and a framed picture of Veronica.

"I had a DNA test done weeks ago. She's our sister and she knows Duncan. Why do you think she suddenly stopped coming over here? She can't stand to see you or Dad. And who can blame her? That's sick. I mean I like some good kink, but letting your son date your daughter, that's just sick."

Duncan recoils. "No…"

She sits on the desk right next to him.

"Yes." She softens, brushing her hand over his face, both in genuine emotion and looking for signs of his epilepsy. His fits could be violent, and she still had bruises from the last time he'd lost it.

"She's our sister, half our DNA is shared. You can't date her again, but if you manage to stop wearing your ass as a hat sometime soon, you might be able to be friends with her again."

Duncan won't meet her eyes. She looks sad for him and smiles sympathetically.

"She really likes Logan?"

Her compassion is short-lived as she jumps up and rolls her eyes in annoyance. "Oh. My. God. Why do I even bother with you? YES! She likes Logan. Deal with it. "

Duncan looks dejected. Lilly forces herself to calm down and be gentle with him. She walks back to him, framing his face in her hands, and forcing him to look at her.

"Duncan. I'm sorry, I really am. This is a fucked up situation. But if you really loved Veronica you should want her to be happy."

Duncan looks about ready to cry. He stares at her, then asks a question. "Did you really love Logan?"

Lilly shrugs. "I did. In my own way." She sits down in his lap, and Duncan looks uncomfortable but lets her stay. "And the best way we can love both of them now is to let them go."

"I don't know how," he says dully.

"Figure it out," she says sharply. She quickly controls her emotions again and issues her edict. "I'm tired of watching them pine over each other. It's been fun, but frankly I'm ready for the next act of this little drama."

She continues, "The only reason Logan hasn't made his move is because he's your friend, and he knows you're not over her. He's in love with her Donut. And he's not doing anything about it because of you. Because he's loyal. They both are. Not like us."

Duncan looks offended. "I'm loyal."

She huffs out a laugh, more damning than if she'd argued, listing instances of his lack of loyalty. "As if. We're both assholes, Duncan, you just hide it better." She grows serious again, and this time it is not for his benefit, but because she had never spoken the words before. "But we can't be with them, and we can't be without them. We need them."

Duncan takes a shaky breath in. "I still lover her."

"I know. I do too, that's why we have to do this."

Duncan stares up at her, trusting, finally willing to accept this. "We have to?"

"Yes. "

Duncan still looks doubtful. Lilly tosses her hair over her shoulder again and stands up. She stops at the pile of clothes she had tossed on the floor, and picks up the one she knows he will try to keep.

"If you don't do this you'll drive them both away. And if I lose my sister because you're an idiot then I will make your life a living hell."

She exits his room, taking the shirt with her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Look Lil, not that I don't appreciate you not being a bitch about this, but you need to back off." Lilly looks affronted. Logan continues, obviously frustrated and uncomfortable. "Veronica and I can figure out how to do this on our own, we don't need you to help us." He raises one sardonic eyebrow, "We both survived dating a Kane, so I think we can handle it from here."

"Is that what you call this? Handling it? She's here with Casey. How is that handled?" Lilly replies.

They are at a party in another 09er McMansion, not like the houses they had grown up in. There were 09ers, then there were the truly wealthy. Add in charisma and the ability to enthrall the masses and you had the reason why Lilly and Logan were at the top of the food chain at their school well before they were seniors.

Logan stares across the party, noticing very nuisance about Veronica's smiles, her movements, her posture, as she talks to Casey Gant.

"When did he break up with Darcy?" Logan asks with a frown, watching as Casey puts his hand on Veronica's shoulder and massages it.

"Right after he heard Veronica was single." Logan issues Lilly a look that says she is lying, she shrugs it off. "Alright I don't know, a few days ago, who cares, what matters is that he's not dumb as a rock and asked her out."

"She didn't have to say yes."

Lilly sighs. "Maybe she wouldn't have if you had just gone ahead and asked her out already. What are you waiting for?"

Logan doesn't reply, occupied with staring at Veronica.

"Oh my God. You're killing me. Just do it already."

"Back off Lil. I mean it. This is Veronica we're talking about, not some one night stand. She's…"

Lilly interrupts, "Special, she hangs the fucking moon, she's the perfect girl, I get it, you're in love. And this time you chose a girl who will appreciate all your romantic crap, so why are you letting someone else steal her away?"

"He asked her out, she's free to do whatever she wants."

Lilly grabs his chin in her hand, forcing him to look at her instead of at her sister across the room. "Did you talk to Duncan?"

"You mean since the last time when I hinted that Veronica would start dating soon and he attacked me then acted like nothing had happened?"

She looks bored, and her tone is a studied casual, "Yeah, after that."

"No. And let me say again what a piece of work your family is. I thought my family was fucked up, but the Kane family takes the cake."

"You don't know the half of it." Logan's sharp gaze reads the truth in that statement and zeros in on her. She raises her chin in defiance, a ready smile in place. "Just talk to Duncan. Do it around other people, for whatever reason he losses it less in public. Which makes it easier for them to hide it."

After Duncan attacked Logan, and Logan had had to pull Duncan off Jake another time, Lilly had broken the family silence and told him the truth. Duncan had Epilepsy.

"Listen to me lover…"

"Don't call me that Lil, you want Veronica to even consider saying yes when I ask her out, you never call me that again."

"Fine, but I hope you fucking find the fun again once you do ask her out, you three are bringing me down. It's almost my senior year, and I plan to rule, not babysit you losers. Now go talk to Duncan."

Across the room Veronica sees Logan watching her and smiles at him, her eyes dark and full of regret.

"Yeah, fine, where is he?"

"Probably wandering around trying to avoid us."

"That's helpful."

When Logan does find Duncan he's in the den playing poker. Playing poker badly. His pile of chips is only three high.

"DK, can I talk to you?"

Duncan glances over Logan then back at the cards. "Sure, in a minute man."

Logan waits as Duncan plays several more hands. Growing impatient he speaks up again, "Duncan?"

But Duncan puts him off, "Yeah, just a minute."

Logan sees that Duncan is never going to let this conversation start, Lilly had obviously told him what was coming, and Duncan was doing his patented avoidance dance.

"Sure dude, I just wanted to tell you that I'm gonna ask Veronica out, but if you're too busy playing games to talk to me…"

Logan grins, his smile anything but friendly. Duncan glares and throws his cards down on the table, walking past Logan out of the room. Logan follows him out.

"What the hell man?" Duncan starts.

"Don't act like you didn't know this was coming, Lilly talked to you over a week ago."

"And you had to bring it up in front of everyone?" Duncan complains.

"Yeah, I did, because you won't let me say it any other time."

Duncan looks stubborn. "Veronica was my girlfriend."

"Yeah, she was, but she's not anymore. It's been months DK, if you wanted her back…"

"I can't."

"What the fuck does that mean? Why did you break up with her in the first place?"

Duncan looks at his feet. "I can't tell you."

"Fine. You can't tell me, you can't even tell her, but I'm telling you, I'm going to ask her out, and I hope to God she says yes, and once she's mine, I won't let her go, so if you suddenly reclaim your balls from Celeste's jewelry box, it'll be too late."

"I won't."

Logan frowns. "Then you're OK with this?"

"Not really, no."

Logan can see that is true, Duncan is still in love with Veronica. He stares at his friend.

Duncan looks down, not able to meet Logan's eyes. "But if it has to be someone…"

"Thanks, man." Logan's smile is relieved, he claps Duncan on the back, then walks away, determined to find Veronica, even if it is just to curtail her alone time with Casey.

Duncan watches Logan go, realizing that once upon a time he had been the center of their little group. Lilly was his sister. Logan was his best friend, and Veronica was going to be his girlfriend.

Then Logan and Lilly had gotten together and Lilly had been the center of all their lives. Veronica was her best friend, Logan was her boyfriend, and Duncan was her brother.

Now it was all about Veronica. Lilly was her sister and best friend. Logan was going to be her boyfriend, and Duncan was her ex-boyfriend, her brother, and would always love her a bit more than he should.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Logan is standing on the door step of a pretty yellow and white house. It has window planters that were once full of brightly blooming flowers, but the flowers are all dying now, and slumped over. Logan runs his hands down his thighs, wiping the nervous sweat from his hands away and knocks on the door.

From inside he can hear Veronica running down the stairs. She opens the door dressed in shorts and a tank top her hair piled on top of her head to try to keep cool on the hot spring day. She looks surprised to see him.

"Logan?" Her tone says she is surprised.

He smiles easily, looking inside for her father, the town's sheriff and a no nonsense one at that. "Yeah, we said today, right?"

Logan had asked her to help him study for their science test. Science was Logan's least favorite subject, and Veronica managed to get A's in all her classes.

She bites her lip adorably, looking both happy and still questioning. "I didn't think you got up before noon on weekends unless you had something to do."

He enters the house and she shuts the door leaning back against it, still regarding him curiously.

"Yeah, I do have something to do today," he says with a shrug, his head ducked down.

She looks disappointed. "OK, how much time do we have? And have you even done any of the reading?" She walks towards the living room where her books are already spread out, but hidden under her breakfast plate and a few bottles on nail polish. The TV is on and tuned to MTV.

Logan puts himself right behind her, close enough to feel the heat radiate off her small body and smell the scent of her shampoo from her still shower damp hair, so when he talks his words startle her. "_This_ is what I have to do today. Studying and hanging out with you."

She takes a few hasty steps away from him, putting a few feet between them. They had spent a lot of time alone together over the past few months, but as Veronica's feelings for Logan changed, she had lost her sense of ease about having him close to her.

Logan frequently surprised Veronica, and he succeeded again as she smiles up at him, pleased but also feeling a bit shy under his direct gaze. She blinks and becomes more businesslike. "Well, good, 'cause you, my friend, have a lot of catching up to do." Logan watches her face and wonders at her internal dialogue.

Veronica makes an effort to keep her tone and actions friendly and casual. Nothing more. She kept reminding herself with in internal mantra, Logan was her friend, nothing more. Just her friend.

**-Flashback**

09er party from the night before.

Veronica enters the party with Casey, his hand on her back, guiding her. She looks down self consciously as seemingly everyone at the party turns to look at them. The gossiping and conversation picks up speed and volume.

Casey leads her over to a group of his friends, guys that Veronica barely knows. They're a year ahead of her in school, and while they had all partied together for the last few years, Veronica has never paid them much attention. Their conversation loses her interest and her gaze wanders around the party, smiling at friends like Meg, grinning at Lilly who is doing shots and terrorizing Beaver, but her smile fades when her gaze collides with Duncan's. He is staring at her, but it is a blank stare, as if he is surprised. Veronica turns her head away from him. Maybe he is surprised, she thought bitterly. He liked to pretend Veronica didn't exist, maybe actually seeing her was a shock.

Her eyes continue to look around the party. She tells herself she's just looking, seeing what everyone is up to, but she knows it is a lie. She's looking for Logan. Wondering if he's here with someone. She had heard a rumor that he was ready to move on after Lilly, and get a real girlfriend, instead of his numerous and short lived hookups. Finally she finds him, standing with Dick, Rams, Chester, and Luke. They're all laughing and having fun. Veronica looks wistful, wishing she was with them, but she is here with Casey, and she forces herself to turn her attention back to him after reassuring herself that Logan wasn't paying any particular attention to any one girl.

**-End Flashback**

Smiling at her, Logan sits down on the couch, right in the middle so she will have to sit close to him on either side in order for them to study together. She sits down and opens her book, but after they've only been studying for a few minutes finds herself staring at his mouth and wondering what it would be like to kiss him.

Logan asks her a question and is puzzled to see her blush. When she stands up hastily and walks to the kitchen rambling about how hot it is and would he like a glass of water, Logan's gaze changes from unsure to confident.

Sometime later, Logan catches Veronica staring at him again. He sits back in the couch, and smiles at her. "What?" He asks with a mischievous smile.

"Nothing," she replies, but there is a clear discomfort in her tone.

Logan laughs lightly. "Come on Veronica, I've known you for 4 years, I know that look, and it's not nothing."

She bites her lip, considering her question and if she should ask it, but Logan waits her out, calmly holding her stare. "Are you and Lilly getting back together?" She blurts out.

Logan is a bit taken aback, but answers quickly. "No."

"Oh, I guess, I thought I saw you two talking last night. I thought you might be working it out."

His tone is adamant. "No. I told you before, Lilly and I are over. We're trying to be friends, but that's it. That's all it will ever be from now on."

**-Flashback**

Previous night. Veronica is standing with Casey, they are a bit away from everyone else, talking, and Veronica is surprised to find that Casey is actually a nice guy and capable of holding a decent conversation. She had always thought he was an over privileged jackass, not too unlike Logan, but without Logan's humor and loyalty.

But for that night at least Casey was being a gentleman, getting her drinks, including her in conversations with his friends, asking her about her interests. She realized she didn't know him that well, and he defiantly didn't know much about her outside of her friendship with Lilly. She tries to focus on him, tries to let herself like him as more than a friend, but again her eyes are drawn to Logan. The boy she can never have.

She smiles ruefully. Maybe she was more like Lilly than she had ever thought. Wanting Logan, wanting what she couldn't have. Though Lilly would never consider anything beyond her reach, but the thought that something was only added to her desire to have it. Veronica finds him again easily, having been keeping track of him all night unconsciously.

Her expression changes from wistful to hurt as she sees him standing with Lilly.

Lilly. Her best friend. Her sister. And the love of Logan's life. They had been broken up since September, and Veronica had actually begun to think that it would stick this time. They had even played good-natured April Fools jokes on each other just a few weeks earlier without resorting to all out warfare.

But there they were together, obviously in an intense conversation. Hurt flowed through Veronica, and she bit her lip, looking back up at Casey as he reached out and touched her shoulder. She smiles up at him, and tries to convince herself that Casey is a viable option. He's not Logan, but then no one is. No one but Logan. And she could never have him. But she could, apparently, have Casey.

**-End Flashback**

Veronica smiles brightly, obviously fake, and replies with a light tone. "OK, I was just wondering. I mean if you two got back together, that would kinda leave me at loose ends, since I'm single."

"What about Casey?" He asks with a serious tone.

She shrugs. "I'm not sure Casey is the right person for me to date."

Logan frowns. "What does that mean? Did he do something?"

Veronica laughs lightly, amused at Logan's protectiveness. "No, and when would he have had the opportunity?"

Logan is not appeased, and lists off a series of opportunities that Casey had to be alone with her. "When he picked you up. On the drive over. At the party. On the way home. When he dropped you off."

"You make it sound like Casey is some kind of pervert or sex offender," she says lightly.

"Maybe he is."

Veronica laughs. "Come on, Casey? He's...surprisingly nice."

Logan doesn't look happy with that assessment.

**-Flashback**

Party. Veronica had almost succeeded in convincing herself to give up on the idea of Logan once and for all when she feels his gaze on her. She looks up and their eyes lock, she tries to smile. They are friends after all, but she knows she doesn't look happy. She can't help but wish that things were different.

Logan keeps his eyes locked on Veronica but says something to Lilly. Whatever she says sends him marching off, and Veronica watches as Lilly smiles with satisfaction.

Logan doesn't make a reappearance for some time, and Veronica thought maybe he'd left the party. A quick check shows that Lilly is still there, and she feels a brief moment of relief. Being around Logan and his flavor of the week girls was easier than the thought of feeling the way she did about him now and watching him and Lilly resume their tempestuous relationship.

"Hey Ronica, I brought you a drink. Skist, your favorite." Logan's voice startles her and she turns to find him standing there, a beer in one hand and a can of Skist in the other.

She smiles. "Hey Logan," she says as she accepts the drink and sets down the diet Coke Casey had gotten for her. She hated diet sodas.

He smiles at her but his gaze slides to Casey. "Casey."

"Was'up Logan?"

Logan's smile to Casey resembles a shark. "You know, the usual."

Veronica expected Logan to say hello, then go back to his friends, or the gaggle of adoring girls that seemed to follow him around at parties, waiting to be picked for one special night with Logan Echolls. But he doesn't. He spends the rest of the party with Veronica and Casey, seemingly happy to hang out with them for the duration. Veronica frowns up at him unsure of his motives when he maneuvers them so they are sitting around the fire pit and Logan makes sure Veronica is sitting next to him on a bench that only fits two comfortably, leaving Casey to stand or sit in another chair.

Logan tells several stories about their friendship over the years, and Veronica smiles and laughs at the memories, all the more bittersweet now because of the fact that Lilly and Duncan were her siblings and her newfound feelings for Logan, who had proven to be a steady and stalwart friend over the last few months.

When Duncan had first broken up with her Veronica had been hurt and confused, and the fact that Logan was also mad at her for revealing that he'd kissed another girl at a party, leading to another breakup with Lilly had not helped. But once Logan got over it, and began to get over Lilly he had resumed their friendship, and refused to let her claims that everything was different now change things between them.

Veronica might not fully understand Logan's motivation for sticking by her side, but Casey did. He recognized jealousy when he saw it, and Logan wasn't trying all that hard to hide it.

**-End Flashback**

"Are you going to see him again?" Logan asks with anger filling his voice.

Veronica frowns. "I'm sure I will, we do go to school together."

"No, I mean on a date."

"I don't know," she replies noncommittally. "Shouldn't we get back to studying?"

"What if someone else asked you out?" He asks doggedly.

"I don't know Logan. I guess it would depend on who it was."

Logan stares at her and she wants to look away but she is held tight by the amount of emotion on display in his eyes. She wants to be light and easy with him, she doesn't want these new feelings to threaten their friendship. Not when his friendship had been the only constant thing in her life for the last few months.

**-Flashback**

After Duncan broke up with her, Veronica was hurt. When days passed and she was still none the wiser to his reason, confusion supplanted the hurt, and quickly moved to anger and disappointment. Obviously she had been wrong about Duncan. She had thought he was a good guy, one of the only ones at their school, but apparently she was wrong.

Not long after Duncan began his campaign of looking through Veronica like she wasn't there even when she was right in front of him, rumors had started flowing like wildfire. The story started with the accusation that Veronica had cheated on Duncan. It quickly blew up to Veronica cheating on Duncan for several months and giving him as STD. When that story got old, another cheating rumor cast Lilly as the other woman, and had Duncan walking in to catch them in flagrante.

Within a week people who had always been nice to Veronica before glared at her in the hallways, wrote nasty things about her on her locker and in the school bathrooms. She was taunted and teased, though never when Lilly was around. Finally, two weeks after Duncan suddenly developed Veronica related amnesia, Logan had fallen in step with her in the hall after last bell, demanding that she come hang out with him that weekend.

The wolves had backed off instantly, and Veronica was glad to have Logan back. She quickly discovered that he was as in the dark as she was to Duncan's recent actions. The first few times they hung out together, just the two of them, were awkward. In their years of friendship, they had always had the Kane siblings between them, so finding out who they were by themselves had taken a little time.

Even as she had begun to change, lose some of her sweetness, naiveté and innocence his only response had been to tease her more, and act even more protective. She had never told him, but his presence had been one of the only things that had gotten her through the last few months.

Finding out her father was not Keith Mars the man who had always loved her and always made her feel safe, had only been made more traumatizing by the revelation that her biological father was Jake Kane, the father of her best friend and ex-boyfriend. Figuring out that her mother had been carrying on the affair for years, and had never had the courage to find out if Veronica was really Keith's or Jake's just made it worse. She had been proud of her family, secure within their threesome. To find out it was all a lie shattered her complacency and sense of security. Putting the facts together she had one more shock coming, Lilly had known for months before telling her. Months.

Dealing with the fact that Lilly was her sister and had kept this information from her until January, and having to live with the disgust that came with the knowledge that Duncan, her only serious boyfriend, was also her half brother had changed Veronica. Though maybe for the better. She felt less of a need to please her parents and the Kane siblings now. And that meant she was free to find out who she was.

And though Logan didn't know any of it, he sensed the changes in her, and let her change, never altering his friendship for her. It was comforting. Then her feelings had started to change, and acting as if everything was the same when really, everything had changed made her uncomfortable in her own skin, and that discomfort increased in direct proportion to Logan's nearness.

**-End Flashback**

She smiles at Logan reassuringly. "Logan, it's no big deal, if I date someone or not, we're still always going to be friends, right?"

She is confident of her statement until she sees his frown. His frown that goes on and on as he stares at her. She starts to feel uncomfortable, and her eyes skitter off his face to somewhere over his right shoulder, no longer so sure of their friendship.

His tone is deep and serious when he finally responds. "What if I was the one who asked you out?"

Her mouth falls open, hope flaring in her eyes. Then she forces herself to calm down. She smiles at him, but it is not a happy smile, it is something darker. "Logan you can't do that." His eyes sharpen obviously about to protest that he can.

She continues, "You can't pretend to be dating me just so no one else asks me out."

He frowns at her darkly, "What?"

"I know that you seem to think that I'm too naive or stupid to know who is a good boyfriend prospect or not, but I'm a big girl, I can handle it."

"No-," he begins, but she interrupts.

"You're a great guy Logan, a fantastic friend, but, it's ridiculous to have you running interference for me with all the guys at school."

"I'm not – "

Again she doesn't let him finish. "Look me in the eye and tell me you haven't made it clear that anyone who asks me out will have to go through you."

She looks at him, her expression annoyed, but also tinged with humor. Honestly, she didn't mind Logan acting like her big brother in this particular capacity. She didn't want to date anyone else anyway.

He stares her in the eye, taking hold of her shoulders, his dark eyes intense on her face. "The reason I've made it clear to those assholes that you're off limits is because I don't want you to date one of them. I want you to date me."

Her mouth falls open again, and this time is stays open. Logan watches her face for any signs of rejection, but finds only stunned disbelief and maybe a bit of hope.

She finally manages to pick her jaw up off the floor. "You..."

"Yeah." His reply is brief, because he is moving closer to her, leaning down towards her. Finally his mouth meets hers, his lips rubbing lightly over hers. She gasps a little, sucking in air and Logan smiles in satisfaction seeing her eyes flutter closed and her body relax into his hands. He commits to the kiss, closing his own eyes and sliding his mouth over hers fully, tasting and tugging on her soft pink lips.

Logan drags the kiss out, taking his time, seducing her with a slow deliberateness that leaves her breathless when he finally pulls away.

"Does that clear things up for you, Mars?"

She stares at him, still processing this latest twist. 

"Should I explain it to you again?" He teases.

She blinks at him, her eyes closing and opening rapidly, not in the obvious flirty way, but from real surprise. She had never really allowed herself to think that Logan could return her feelings. But as he kisses her again, she lets herself believe.

Breaking the kiss again, before it goes too far, Veronica already half in his lap with their arms wrapped tightly around each other, Logan grins at her, his smile open and innocent. He smoothes her hair back off her forehead, pulling the stick that was holding it up away and letting the blonde strands fall around her shoulders. She moves to comb her fingers through her hair self consciously, still not used to the new haircut. Logan stops her and eases his own fingers into the fine golden strands, feeling the coolness of her still damp hair cling to his fingers before sliding free.

"I think you should say yes and let me take you out to show off your new do." He says temptingly.

"It's not new anymore," she denies. Her hair is now cut into layers, the back reaching just past her shoulders and in the front just touching her collarbones. Her bangs were growing out and until they got longer, she had been wearing it up in fun, edgy twists and spirals.

"You didn't answer my question."

She stares at him, then bites her lower lip and smiles up at him. "Yes."

-AN

Writing Veronica here is a lot different than I'm used to. Logan too, they're both more innocent and lighter here that on the show or in my other stories. It's interesting. A lot of you were asking for V's point of view so I hope this fulfills that. I think there might be a few more chapters in this story so stay tuned...


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